Provide assistance to kin of 39 Indians killed by IS: Captain Amarinder Singh writes to Swaraj

CHANDIGARH: In a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has requested for financial assistance to the families of those killed by 39 Indians.

Expressing shock on the deaths of 39 Indians in Iraq, Singh writes that 24 deceased are from Punjab.

“The State Government has been providing a monthly assistance of @20,000- per family. I would be grateful if the Government of India could assistance to the families of the deceased, given the circumstances,” he wrote on Tuesday.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh writes to EAM Sushma Swaraj expressing shock on the deaths of 39 Indians in Iraq, requests for financial assistance for families of the kin pic.twitter.com/u2Y2A9X9a8

— ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2018

Earlier, External Affairs Minister confirmed that the 39 Indians, who went missing in Iraq's Mosul since 2014, are dead.

''Out of the 40, who were kidnapped, one person managed to escape, while others were confirmed dead after DNA samples of their relatives matched from the bodies exhumed from a mound, '' EAM Swaraj said in Rajya Sabha.

She added that banned terrorist outfit Islamic State had killed all of them.

''Mortal remains were sent to Baghdad. For verification of bodies, the DNA samples of their relatives were sent there and four state governments - Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar - were involved in this,' Swaraj said.

With ANI inputs